De-esser
A device for reducing the effect of sibilance in vocal signals.
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De-Oxidising Compound
A substance formulated to remove oxides from electrical contacts. (cf. Contact Cleaner)
Decay
The progressive reduction in amplitude of a sound or electrical signal over time, eg. The reverb decay of a room. In the context of an ADSR envelope shaper, the Decay phase starts as soon as the Attack phase has reached its maximum level.
Decca Tree
A form of ‘spaced microphone’ arrangement in which three microphone capsules (usually, but not always, with omnidirectional polar patterns) are placed in a large triangular array roughly two metres wide, with the central microphone one metre further forward. Sounds approaching from different directions arrive at each capsule at different times and with slightly different levels, and these timing and level differences are used to convey the directional information in the recording. The timing differences between channels can result in unwanted colouration if they are combined to produce a mono mix.
Decoupler (also isolator)
A device intended to prevent the transmission of physical vibration over a specific frequency range, such as a rubber or foam block.
Defragment
The process of rearranging the files on a hard disk so that all the files are as contiguous as possible, and that the remaining free space is also contiguous.
Desk
An alternative term for mixer (See also console).
Detent
One or more physical click-stops which can be felt when a rotary control is moved. Typically used to identify the centre of a control such as a pan or EQ cut/boost knob, or to give the impression of preset positions on a gain control.
DI
An abbreviation for ‘Direct Instrument’ or ‘Direct Inject’ - the two terms being used interchangeably. Used when an electrical sound source (eg electric guitar, bass or keyboard) is connected directly into an audio chain, rather than captured with a microphone in front of a amp/loudspeaker.
Diaphragm
the movable membrane in a microphone capsule which responds mechanically to variations in the pressure or pressure gradient of sound waves. The mechanical diaphragm vibrations are converted into an electrical signal usually through electromagnetic or electrostatic techniques such as ribbon, moving coil, capacitor or electret devices.
DI Box
Direct Injection, or Direct Instrument Box. A device which accepts the signal input from a guitar, bass, or keyboard and conditions it to conform to the requirements of a microphone signal at the output. The output is a mic-level, balanced signal with a low source impedance, capable of driving long mic cables. There is usually a facility to break the ground continuity between mic cable and source to avoid unwanted ground loop noises. Both active and passive versions are available, the former requiring power from internal batteries or phantom power via the mic cable. Active DI boxes generally have higher input impedances than passive types and are generally considered to sound better.
Digital Delay
A digital processor that generates delay and echo effects.
DIN Connector
A consumer multi-pin connection format used for vintage microphones, some consumer audio equipment, and MIDI cabling. Various pin configurations are available.
Diode-Bridge Compressor
A form of audio compressor which uses a diode-bridge (sometimes known as a diode-ring) arrangement as the variable gain-reducing element. The design was popular in the 1960s as it provided faster responses than typical opto-compressors, and less distortion than many FET designs. However, noise can be an issue as the audio signal has to be attenuated heavily before the diode-bridge, and considerable (~40dB) gain added subsequently. The diodes also need to be closely matched to maintain low distortion.
Direct Coupling
A means of connecting two electrical circuits so that both AC and DC signals may be passed between them.
Dither
A system whereby low-level noise equivalent to one quantising level is combined with a digitised audio signal in such a way as to perfectly linearise the digital system. Dither must be employed whenever the wordlength is reduced, otherwise quantising distortion errors will manifest.
Disc
Used to describe vinyl discs, CDs and MiniDiscs.
Disk
An abbreviation of Diskette, but now used to describe computer floppy, hard and removable data storage disks.
Dolby Surround-Sound
Dolby’s surround sound systems started with an analogue 4:2:4 phase-matrix system with a very elaborate active-steering decoder called ProLogic, before moving into the digital realm with Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and others.
Dolby HX
Invented by Bang & Olufsen and licensed to Dolby. HX (often marketed as HX Pro) stands for 'Headroom eXtension' and it is a record-processing system used on some analogue open-reel and cassette tape-recorders (there is no complementary replay processing). Dolby HX Pro varies the amount of recording bias depending on the strength of high-frequencies in the audio signal itself to avoid magnetic saturation and over-biasing. This makes it possible to record with a higher overall fluxivity on the tape.